Page 19 of Finley
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, brushing Derek’s comment aside. “He’s gay, you know.”
Derek said nothing at first, and then he cocked his head to the side. “How do you know?”
Too drunk to censor himself, Daniel grinned and said, “I asked him.”
When Derek’s mouth fell open, Daniel waggled his eyebrows.
“No you fucking didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did. And when I told him I was too, he got this look on his face… Ahh, fuck. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Derek shook his head. “No shit. Not gonna lie, Danny. I’m fucking impressed. Seeing something you want and going for it. Thatta boy.”
They began walking again, and Daniel looked at the houses lining the beach. There were some pretty pricey ones in amongst the little two-bedroom homes that had been there for years. As he dug his toes into the wet sand and the tide rolled in, he wondered which one was Professor Hayes’s. The cool water surrounded their ankles, and as they walked in silence, he plotted his next move.
Twenty minutes later, they were heading up the back stairs of Daniel’s house when he asked, “You still need a running buddy in the mornings?”
Derek put his hand on the wooden railing and laughed loudly. “Gee, I wonder what finally made you want to haul your ass outta bed at the crack of dawn.”
“Maybe I decided it’s time to get in shape.”
“Bullshit,” Derek scoffed, pushing past Daniel to walk across the balcony to the sliding door. “You just want to scope out Hayes. Hey, no skin off my back. I’ve been trying to get you to run with me for months.”
That was true. Each time he’d asked, Daniel had grumbled that the only good reasons to get out of bed that early were waves and sex. It was time to add a third reason to that list.
Professor Brantley Hayes.
DANIEL STROLLED DOWNthe stark stretch of beach and stopped outside of the house he’d been so curious about all those years ago.
Brantley’s beach house. It was spectacular.
The familiar structure called to him the way it had from the very first time he’d seen it. Beckoning him to come closer.
The white floor-to-ceiling curtains were billowing in the breeze, so Brantley must’ve opened the sliding glass doors that made up the entire length of the house’s back wall. A lamp illuminated the living room just beyond that, and the soft glow of it reminded him of their past and made his heart thump in his chest.
The two of them shared so many memories. They were messy and complicated—not unlike themselves, really. Some were good, and some painful as hell, and many of them had taken place beyond those curtains, inside Brantley’s home. And tonight, Daniel thought as he headed up the stairs, it was time to bring them out of the dark and back into the light.
BRANTLEY PACEDHIS living room for what felt like the millionth time as he stared at the vast night sky beyond his open door.
Whenever the wind whipped up and the curtains fluttered, a sliver of moonlight slipped inside and reminded him why he’d purchased this house when he’d first moved to town.
It was beautiful there. Picturesque during the day and exquisite in the evening. It was his most treasured possession, and to this day, he couldn’t stand in any of the rooms without remembering Daniel there with him.
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as his gaze landed on the clock on the wall. It’d been a little over fifty minutes since he’d left the Finleys’ house, and with every tick of the second hand, he was starting to believe he might have dreamed up what’d happened earlier.
Daniel had him on edge—in more ways than one. From his words and his volatile emotions to the possessive look he’d swept over his body, Daniel had managed to work Brantley’s nerves into a state of absolute chaos.Not a small feat, considering we’ve known each other a long time.
Well, they’d known each other once upon a time. A lot had changed since?—
“Can I come in?”
At the sound of Daniel’s voice, Brantley turned and saw him standing just outside his door, flip-flops in hand. He was still dressed in the white shirt and navy shorts, but the shirt was completely unbuttoned now—something Brantley was thankful Daniel hadn’t done until he’d left his mother’s house,because hell, he looked mouthwatering.
“You know you never have to ask. You’re always welcome here,” Brantley said, and placed his hands on the back of his white leather sofa.
As Daniel stepped inside, Brantley swore the air in his living room became charged. It crackled and hummed around them, and nothing had even happened.
Brantley took a moment to really study the man now standing in his home, and he was struck, as he always was, by how tall he was. Daniel had been broad-shouldered and wide-chested even when they’d first met, which had appealed to Brantley from the very beginning. But the Daniel currently opposite him had almost doubled his weight in muscle tone. Where he used to be broad and lean, he was now broad and built. Something Brantley was acutely aware of, since he couldn’t tear his eyes off the naked strip of skin down his front.